The real issue is genetics, not evolution

Published: Friday, July 19, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, July 18, 2013 at 7:34 p.m.

Evolution by mutation. That is what we were all taught in ninth-grade biology. Organisms have their genetic material messed up every now and then, and every once in a while one of those mutations actually turns into something useful, something that helps the organism to survive more efficiently.

That is the crux of evolutionary theory. I will quote from Dictionary.com now. Do not be alarmed, I will bore you for only a bit. “Evolution — Biology. Change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation … .”

What we are talking about today is the DNA molecule, which anyone who watches crime dramas on TV has heard about, and RNA, which we rarely hear anything about.

The DNA molecule looks like a twisted ladder, made up of phosphates and sugars, linked by four chemicals, guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine. This is the material that every cell in every living thing’s body holds and is the information on what to do next to stay alive. The RNA is made up of nucleic acids, and is the stuff that reads the DNA and goes and gets the information to the correct part of a cell so what needs to be done gets done.

If you are already getting upset about this column, I’m sure you will soon be investigating further, so I will proceed to the analogy.

It is important that we understand that all the DNA does is store information, same as the 1’s and 0’s on a computer hard drive do. That’s all. So I am going to liken it to a blueprint, a set of instructions. In this example, we will say it is a blueprint of an outhouse.

To model the RNA, we will use a carpenter, who reads the blueprint and then makes the outhouse.

For mutations, we will use raindrops. Trust me on this — I have spent many an hour puzzling over prints that got caught in the rain.

Mutations happen all the time. We all walk around with at least some. A mutation is a damaged portion of DNA, and “Mutations in genes can either have no effect, alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning properly or completely.” (Source: Stanley A. Sawyer, John Parsch, Zhi Zhang, Daniel L. Hartl, 2007, “Prevalence of positive selection among nearly neutral amino acid replacements in Drosophila,” National Academy of Sciences.)

So here is what happens: Our hero, the carpenter, is reading the print, and along comes a big old fat raindrop (mutation) that wipes out a period. No problem. Then, along come a couple more, smearing the dimensions for the hole. Maybe a bit of a problem. Next, before the carpenter can make it to the truck, along comes a deluge. Like “pouring water out of a boot” rain. Now all the carpenter has is a side elevation and the architect’s logo left. This is where sex comes in.

The carpenter’s spouse has another set of prints, a bit different (the architect had trouble making up his mind that day), and responds to a hurried call to bring her set to the job. The same as when a baby gets made and inherits half of its DNA from each parent. Following me?

The prints get compared and the outhouse gets built. Maybe it’s a tad different than it was supposed to be, but the customer is satisfied. But this isn’t evolution. This is genetics. It’s the same as those little pea plant pictures in the ninth-grade textbook.

For evolution to work, the raindrop can’t just remove information from the print, it has to rearrange and/or add new numbers, directions and sizes. Mutations, whether raindrops on a blueprint or inside the DNA molecule, do not do that. Ever. We’ve been zapping fruit flies with radiation and messing with mice embryos for years, and all we get are messed up flies and mice.

A mutation is damaged or missing information, not new and more complex information. That carpenter is never going to take damaged prints and eventually come up with an airplane hangar instead of a one-hole outhouse.

This is the problem with the evolution theory. There is no other proposed mechanism for evolution other than wishful thinking.

If this distresses you, I will listen to facts. Saying I’m full of baloney, though, tells me you just have faith. Reach Chip Worrell at cworr@juno.com.

<p>Evolution by mutation. That is what we were all taught in ninth-grade biology. Organisms have their genetic material messed up every now and then, and every once in a while one of those mutations actually turns into something useful, something that helps the organism to survive more efficiently.</p><p>That is the crux of evolutionary theory. I will quote from Dictionary.com now. Do not be alarmed, I will bore you for only a bit. “Evolution — Biology. Change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation … .”</p><p>What we are talking about today is the DNA molecule, which anyone who watches crime dramas on TV has heard about, and RNA, which we rarely hear anything about.</p><p>The DNA molecule looks like a twisted ladder, made up of phosphates and sugars, linked by four chemicals, guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine. This is the material that every cell in every living thing's body holds and is the information on what to do next to stay alive. The RNA is made up of nucleic acids, and is the stuff that reads the DNA and goes and gets the information to the correct part of a cell so what needs to be done gets done.</p><p>If you are already getting upset about this column, I'm sure you will soon be investigating further, so I will proceed to the analogy.</p><p>It is important that we understand that all the DNA does is store information, same as the 1's and 0's on a computer hard drive do. That's all. So I am going to liken it to a blueprint, a set of instructions. In this example, we will say it is a blueprint of an outhouse.</p><p>To model the RNA, we will use a carpenter, who reads the blueprint and then makes the outhouse.</p><p>For mutations, we will use raindrops. Trust me on this — I have spent many an hour puzzling over prints that got caught in the rain.</p><p>Mutations happen all the time. We all walk around with at least some. A mutation is a damaged portion of DNA, and “Mutations in genes can either have no effect, alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning properly or completely.” (Source: Stanley A. Sawyer, John Parsch, Zhi Zhang, Daniel L. Hartl, 2007, “Prevalence of positive selection among nearly neutral amino acid replacements in Drosophila,” National Academy of Sciences.)</p><p>So here is what happens: Our hero, the carpenter, is reading the print, and along comes a big old fat raindrop (mutation) that wipes out a period. No problem. Then, along come a couple more, smearing the dimensions for the hole. Maybe a bit of a problem. Next, before the carpenter can make it to the truck, along comes a deluge. Like “pouring water out of a boot” rain. Now all the carpenter has is a side elevation and the architect's logo left. This is where sex comes in.</p><p>The carpenter's spouse has another set of prints, a bit different (the architect had trouble making up his mind that day), and responds to a hurried call to bring her set to the job. The same as when a baby gets made and inherits half of its DNA from each parent. Following me?</p><p>The prints get compared and the outhouse gets built. Maybe it's a tad different than it was supposed to be, but the customer is satisfied. But this isn't evolution. This is genetics. It's the same as those little pea plant pictures in the ninth-grade textbook.</p><p>For evolution to work, the raindrop can't just remove information from the print, it has to rearrange and/or add new numbers, directions and sizes. Mutations, whether raindrops on a blueprint or inside the DNA molecule, do not do that. Ever. We've been zapping fruit flies with radiation and messing with mice embryos for years, and all we get are messed up flies and mice.</p><p>A mutation is damaged or missing information, not new and more complex information. That carpenter is never going to take damaged prints and eventually come up with an airplane hangar instead of a one-hole outhouse.</p><p>This is the problem with the evolution theory. There is no other proposed mechanism for evolution other than wishful thinking.</p><p>If this distresses you, I will listen to facts. Saying I'm full of baloney, though, tells me you just have faith. Reach Chip Worrell at cworr@juno.com.</p>